Robot 6

Batman and Spider-Man have a new nemesis: Twilight

Move over, Joker and Green Goblin: Edward Cullen’s here to give you a real run for your money.

New Moon, the second in a series of adaptations of author Stephenie Meyer’s teen-vampire Twilight saga, stunned Hollywood and shattered box-office records this past weekend by taking in $140.7 million over its opening weekend. As best I can tell, the film is now the box-office record-holder for Biggest Advance Ticket Sales, Biggest Midnight Screening, Biggest Opening Day, Biggest Friday, Biggest Two-Day, Biggest November Opening, and Biggest Non-Summer 3-Day Weekend. The movie currently ranks third on the list of all-time opening-weekend box-office champs, behind only the summer superhero blockbusters The Dark Knight ($158.4mil, 2008) and Spider-Man 3 ($151mil, 2007).

In shattering all those other records, the movie leapfrogged claims previously staked by such fanboy-beloved franchises as Batman, Spider-Man, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings. In particular, New Moon‘s dethroning of The Dark Knight as the reigning opening-day record-holder caused much agita among nerds of my acquaintance. Fortunately for them, the movie ultimately came up short for the weekend title — proving that when push comes to shove, audiences prefer serious stuff like billionaires who dress up as bats to fight evil clowns or young men whose spider-like superhuman abilities interfere with their love lives to all this emo-vampire-werewolf silliness.

Then again, when No. 3 in the series, Eclipse, hits this summer on June 30th, who knows what’ll happen?